Scream VI Review (SPOILERS)

So I'm a huge fan of the Scream franchise, and when Scream VI came out I was super excited but my schedule was all filled up so I wasn't able to see it until this month. 😔 Real sad all around since I wanted desperately to avoid spoilers, but luckily I found some time this month to see it with two friends who are also fans without ever getting spoiled online!!!

Anyway, I saw it a week or so ago and now I can't stop thinking about it. I was already pretty excited, had a Bingo board for it and everything (ALMOST got a diagonal win hahaha), and OH BOY did it exceed the expectations I had for it. Now, admittedly, there are some parts of it that were a little disappointing but they weren't so terrible that it ruined the rest of it for me. Great movie overall, especially for a franchise that has been going on for a good while. At this point you'd expect they'd be trying to suck the life from it but I'm impressed by the path it's going on.

The movie starts off with a film professor, played by Samara Weaving, waiting for her Tinder date, awkwardly talking to him on the phone while she waits. This is something that's very important to me in every Scream movie, because what an opening is supposed to do in this franchise is set the tone for the rest of the movie and get you on the edge of your seat. In a good opening, you're able to feel some real suspense for what's going to happen next. A really good example of this is the very first Scream movie, which is definitely my favourite for obvious reasons hahaha. Watching Casey and Ghostface in the first movie was probably the best opening for a slasher movie ever made in my personal opinion, and hands down Scream VI's opening took second place in the Scream franchise. Moving on, the opening had me with a similar feeling I had when watching the first movie's, and god damn I loved how swift with the knife this Ghostface was. There was no wait, it felt like a real cold blooded killer when you saw how fast and how many times he stabbed the poor professor. Honestly, the only criticism I had with this part of the opening was how short it was because it didn't really allow for you to connect with Samara's character much.

After that, the opening doesn't stop with one kill! Shockingly, the Ghostface goes ahead and just takes off the mask right then and there and reveals his face. It turns out to be a student of the film professor he killed, disgruntled and grumpy over his grade on a project being a C. Don't worry dude, it's an average grade. He goes home and gets a call from what we think is his killing buddy, much like a behind the scenes look at Billy and Stu which was cool to me. I always wondered how those two talked about their plans but I guess I'd prefer never knowing haha. Anyway, he tells his friend to stop using the Ghostface modulator while continuing to assume it's him. They start playing a game where he has to figure out where he is... colder... warmer... you're on fire... and finally, he opens the fridge to see his dead friend chopped up inside, revealing that he wasn't really talking to him on the phone. Afterwards, he's stabbed to death by Ghostface, again having that swift stabbing speed that I just liked for how brutal it was. The opening ends on that double kill.

Personally I liked how they added that Sam is being blamed for the murders, it really adds to her conflict with not wanting to become like her father while also being compared to him on a daily basis. She struggles with hallucinations of him in reflections throughout later parts in the movie, and he even serves as a guide to her at some points. It's a weird contrast that I like. Along with the mention of Billy, can I talk about how badass the new mask was? It's decaying, it's rotting, and it's so beautiful and I love it!!! Besides for the original, I think the newest mask is probably my favourite for how cool it looks for Ghostface.

I'm not going to get into tons of smaller details because what I really want to talk about is the way the chases and deaths are choreographed. Clever and swift, sometimes painfully slow in the right moments, and overall genius. It was hands down the best part of the movie for me the way Ghostface's attacks were designed, especially Anika, Gale, and Mindy's scenes. The suspense was so painfully good and the environments were successfully used to their advantages in multiple scenes, which is so important to me because god dammit don't go up those stairs, and god dammit there's kitchen equipment RIGHT THERE!!!

Gale's chase with Ghostface was by far my favourite scene of the movie with Mindy's part in the train being a close second. We really see how badass Gale is in this scene, and she USES THE ENVIRONMENT WELL!!! Bashing his head in with a pan and tripping him, it was satisfying to see such a smart usage of surroundings even if it wasn't too much. But out of all of the amazing parts of this scene... there was one that stuck out to me in particular for how both badass and hilarious it was. Gale puts Ghostface on hold and calls him back, revealing his location and shooting him. Even though she missed the shot, it was extremely clever and just so funny to me for how confused he got hahahaha. My friends were chuckling a little at this point too. I do have some criticism about this chase and it's that Gale survived after such a death scare. While she's a great character and I do love the OG cast, it made ZERO sense how she survived it. It was obvious that they just wanted to let her live so the fans wouldn't go nuts over it, but it ended up just being a dry and meaningless part of the movie to make it so that she survived.

My next favourite scene was in the train with Mindy and Ethan. From the recent Ghostface murders and how close it is to Halloween, there are tons of people packed in one tiny train, many of which being dressed in the iconic Ghostface outfit. Along with that scare for the cast, the lights keep going out momentarily and everyone is on edge waiting for that entirely possible stab in the dark. Mindy is stuck in the back of the train as the lights keep going out, and there are multiple shots of different people dressed as Ghostface, leaving you wondering which one is a killer and which one is just someone dressing for the spooky season. I was on the edge of my seat at this part. Eventually, the lights start going out for longer and suddenly the real Ghostface appears in the crowd, looking straight at Mindy. Whenever the lights went out was when he got closer, and GOD I just loved how much this scene connected to the genre hahaha.

Now for the... questionable part of the movie. The killer reveal. Okay, I did really like the setting for this part, with all the evidence from past movies being on display for some sick sort of Ghostface shrine, but the reveal itself was a little weird and disappointing for me. Like Nancy Loomis, these killers were out for blood purely from grief because the protagonist killed their beloved serial killer family member. However, unlike Nancy, it didn't really... make any sense. She wasn't supposed to be fully psychotic like her son, she was merely someone going through intense grief that crossed over to the path of revenge due to rage. In Scream VI, however, it seemed like... the movie wanted both? It's revealed that there were two Ghostfaces all along, Ethan and Quinn, but also the cop was helping them because it turned out all three of them were family members of Richie. This was a big stretch to me and it was definitely pretty disappointing. Along with that, they tried to make them seem both psychotic and full of grief. Don't get me wrong, this had the potential to make total sense, but they refused to explain the family dynamic between them and Richie and so it was just confusing and seemed wrong. Because of that, the reveal was disappointing and didn't really live up to any of my expectations, but it wasn't so terrible that it ruined the entire movie for me.

The ending itself was much better with Sam being reunited with her friends and having to make the decision for becoming like her infamous father or not. It's an extremely satisfying end of internal conflict as she drops the mask to the ground, walking away with Tara as a sign that she's chosen her real family over a killer who was never around for her. With that whole wrap up, the killer reveal was less disappointing to me because they ended the movie on a better note.

Overall, Scream VI was a fantastic movie that can really get you going on the suspenseful part. For people who find that the original Scream is their favourite of the franchise, I can assure you that this movie will be really good! It's full of references, homages, and parallels, and it will certainly live up to your expectations even if some parts of it weren't the best. Check it out and let me know what you thought of it!!!